I emailed my local government to ask about whether it is allowed to walk on the trails at night because the signage at one of the places I like to go during the day says that the trails are only open from sunrise to sunset, and it is apparently a county wide rule.
Okay, true story. We had a meetup of flashlight nerds at a state park with a lake. This was the third or fourth time. Apparently the park closes at sundown but we never had an issue and I for one never saw that rule posted anywhere. But this time two police SUVs roll up on us. When they asked what we were doing and we all answered something along the lines of “showing off our flashlights!” they were flumaxed. It took handing them a GT90 before they believed us. In the end they let us stay for as long as we wanted because we were being respectful of where we were and nobody who’s up to no good would use “flashlight meetup” as a cover story.
I don’t think that story will help you out but hopefully picturing that interaction makes you chuckle and I wish you all the best in your nighttime hikes.
Ymmv, but I night ride on my MTB and it depends on the park whether it’s being enforced or not. I regularly ride at a park way past dark and have several times seen the police drive right past me and not say a word. And the places where they do, I’ve only been told to leave without so much as a written warning.
I see those rules a way to guarantee probable cause when they suspect people are up to no good at a public park at night (and chances are, they’re right). It’s still a risk, but one I’m willing to accept.
